It’s been a long, long time since an actual Britt won the title at Wimbledon but some big books in the UK took a beating on the victory of Andy Murray who won the Gentlemen’s Singles crown at Wimbledon for 2013.
It was the days of the underdog from the very beginning as both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal went down in the first round. But that was just the start of the upset action.
Wimbledon is said to be the oldest and the most prestigious tennis tournament in the world. It has been held in a suburb of London known as Wimbledon since 1877. But recently, the championship has been won by tennis pros who were not at all British. As a matter of fact, it had been 77 years since Fred Perry won the Wimbledon Championship back in 1936, since we have seen a British golfer win the event.
But then along came +300 long shot Andy Murray to win the tourney over the heavily favored number one seed Novak Djokovic in straight sets 6-4, 7-5, 6-4. Murray was still a +150 underdog before the start of the final day on Sunday.
Surely the victory was greeted with cheers and lifted pints all over the UK…. except at the big sports books who lost big time on Wimbledon this year.
This from PaddyPower: Paddy Power✔@paddypower
OUCH! Andy Murray smashes Paddy for £2MILLION!! http://pdy.pr/yQFCw7
Two million pounds is a bit over $3,000,000. That is a lot to let go of on a single tennis tournament! According to PaddyPower, Murray was a 6-to-1 favorite to win in straight sets.
Andy Murray is also the defending U.S. Open Champion and post Wimbledon odds have him listed as a -163 co-favorite with his buddy Djokovic to win the final event in the 2013 Professional Tennis Grand Slam…..the U.S. Open which will be played in late August in New Jersey.
Defending Women’s Champion Serena Williams was also eliminated in the fourth round at Wimbledon by little known 23rd seeded German pro Sabine Lisicki who was then defeated in the finals by Marion Bartoli of France who has not won a title since 2011.
Former tennis great and now commentator Chrissie Evert said of Bartoli after the match, “I can’t stress how much she’s changed, both on the court and off. She played bold, fearless, she had all the shots. She had so much joy and happiness and I think that really propelled her out there.”
